Today, I wanted to discuss a rapidly growing makeup brand that is now available at your local Walgreens or Duane Reade drugstores, Girlactik Beauty. I had first heard of this brand through beauty vloggers on YouTube, but it was at first sold exclusively online through their website. The shipping costs were rather pricey, so I held myself back from purchasing items from this line for a while. I heard rumors for months prior that they would soon be sold in local Walgreens & Duane Reade pharmacies and I often checked every now and then and never saw a stand for them within stores here in NY. Then one mighty day, my friend Lauren gave me the good news that she had just recently purchased some Girlactik products at the Duane Reade by our job, I was immediately excited to run out and get a few things! I purchased one of their “Le Crème Lipsticks” in the color – “Beauty” and two of their “Matte Lip Paints” in the colors: “Bashful” & “Demure”. The lipstick as the name implies, is very creamy and pigmented. The formula is silky and the finish is between semi-shiny and semi-matte, it’s the perfect mixture of both to make application extremely comfortable. The color I chose is stunning and right in there with the 90’s trend of a brown-pinkish lip. The packaging is also adorable; it’s definitely a gunmetal finish with a hint of purple mixed in there and the brand name in appealing baby pink lettering. The only con I had with this lipstick is that there is no longevity. Because of the semi-shiny finish, this is almost impossible to have last too long. You will for sure need to re-apply the color throughout the day especially after you eat anything, but because the color is so beautiful, I don’t mind it as much.

As for the matte lip paints, these I absolutely fell in LOVE with! They have got to be some of the best liquid lipsticks I have tried yet, after my beloved Dose of Colors & Stila lippies of course. They have reached top 3 status within my collection. These liquid lipsticks are richly pigmented perfection. Its instant color pay off with these babies, all you need is one swipe and you are good to go! They don’t dry out my lips or make my lips flaky as most liquid lipsticks do and they don’t transfer once applied. In regards to the shades I selected – “Bashful”, a beautiful everyday nude with a pink undertone and “Demure” a burnt brick shade that I can’t quite get enough of, they are everything I was hoping for and more, both flatter my skin tone flawlessly. I really liked the doe-foot applicator on this specific liquid lipstick, easy to control and move product around without messing up. The packaging on the matte lip paints were just as nice as on the le crème lipstick. The turn-top was in the same purple gunmetal finish as the lipstick. And the tube that housed the actual product is in an almost matte finish, clear of course so you can see the color of the liquid lipstick. The brand name located at the bottom edge of the tube in the same baby pink lettering as the lipsticks. I honestly don’t know how a liquid lipstick of this quality can be so under-rated within the makeup community, they are genuinely amazing and the color range is stunning! Seeing as Girlactik is technically considered a drugstore brand now, I feel their products are not affordable enough to be in the drugstore period. The lipsticks are $22 each and the lip paints are $23 each, basically high end here. If I wanted to spend this much on makeup, I’d just hit up Sephora! Are they worth the price? Abso-freaking-lutely! They are THAT good! It just sucks for people who can’t afford that price tag to begin with. Unfortunately, the prices keep going up at the drugstore and it’s unavoidable. I just hope pharmacies don’t forget who their target customers are! If I had to choose between both items to save you some cash, I’d say go 100% with the liquid lipsticks; they will knock your socks off!